Operation Colossus

During World War II, Operation Colossus was an experimental raid by thirty-eight of the five hundred men of No.2 Commando, who trained as Britain’s first paratroops in 1940. Despite being told they had only an even chance of returning at best, every man in the Commando volunteered. Maj. T. Pritchard commanded and among his men were three interpreters, one an Italian national who was formerly a waiter at the Savoy Hotel, London.

The objective was to blow-up a fresh water aqueduct near Calitri in southern Italy, where it spanned the Tragano gorge. It was not a major military target, though it did supply some two million people including the ports of Bari and Brindisi and the naval base of Taranto. The object was primarily a test to see if the RAF could deliver men accurately to an enemy target, and the men could achieve their objective by air drop and exfiltrate themselves afterwards.

On 10 February, 1941, all but one of the six Whitley bombers dropped their men between 50 to 250 metres of the target. The sixth, suffering navigational problems, dropped its men and unfortunately much of the mission's explosives, two hours late and two miles north. On examining the aqueduct it was found the structure was of concrete and not brick as intelligence advised. All heavy explosives available were packed around one of the side piers and anything remaining to a small nearby bridge over the Ginestra stream, to hamper repairs, (though an officer later stated that “just for the hell of it” was part of the equation).

Both detonations were successful and the Commandos set about making their way overland to the mouth of the River Sele, some 50 marching miles away on the Mediterranean coast south of Salerno. The British submarine HMS Triumph was to meet them offshore at this point, but unfortunately one of the Whitley bombers chose this spot to make a forced landing after incurring engine failure. As the downed bomber would attract considerable attention, the submarine abandoned any rendezvous.

As it happened, the Commandos never reached the coast. Winter conditions forced them to leave their slow cross-country route and take to the roads. All at once when passing through a small town they found themselves passively but purposefully surrounded by civilians and local police. Declining to fire upon civilians, the Commandos gave themselves up.

Within 36 hours of landing all men were in enemy hands, though one managed to escape back to England soon after. The Italian national was imprisoned separately, court-martialed and shot. The aqueduct was repaired in about a month during which time reservoirs coped. This raid, or ‘test’, provided valuable lessons for British Combined Operations, and served notice to the Axis that British soldiers were now airborne.

In some official circles Commandos were termed Special Service troops, and for this raid the men of No.2 Commando were termed “II Special Air Service”, (the ‘II’ being the Roman numeral for ‘2’ though generally thereafter corrupted to be ‘eleven’) This was the first time the term ‘SAS’ was used and when it was soon realised that far more than 500 paratroops were needed, the men of No.2 Commando became the foundation of the Parachute Regiment. The term ‘SAS’ was next used by Dudley Clarke, (originator of the first Commando format and the title), during his deception work in North Africa to give the enemy the impression a Parachute Battalion was stationed there. Ultimately the title 'SAS' was assigned to the raiders formed by David Stirling in the same theatre to add credence to Clarke's deception.